Echoes of Light
by Mithostwen
Summary: An alternate ending to Episode III, from the duel on Mustafar onward. Mostly from the point of view of a certain Sith apprentice who's finally living up to his destiny, whatever it may be...
1. Chapter 1

Echoes of Light

An alternate ending to Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

By Mithostwen

:ii:

Disclaimer: This is only my interpretation of George Lucas' movie (with an alternate ending). The characters, worlds, etc are not mine, so I've tried to keep them as true to Lucas' characters as possible. If you have any complaints in that area, please tell me. Gracias.

:ii:

_I want nothing to do with you anymore. If you're smart, you'll walk away right now._

But he knew Obi-Wan. He knew that wasn't going to happen.

His back deliberately turned toward his former Master, the flames that consumed Mustafar met the full wrath of Vader's glare instead. If it had been a staring contest, the Sith Lord would have won. The rumbling inferno of the volcanic world was only an insignificant echo of the one inside him. _That _one actually meant something.

Anakin was virtually shaking with rage as he stood there, impossibly still, running over and over the facts that _could_ _not_ be his reality.

_They both betrayed me!_

Two people he had counted among his closest friends for most of his life…

If it wasn't for the furnace of his rage, his heart would have been locked in bitter, impenetrable ice.

Obi-Wan had clearly come here with the intention of killing him, though he didn't say as much. And only because it was his _duty_ as a _Jedi_. Anakin would have spat the words if he had spoken them aloud. He had never shared his Master's blind devotion to the Jedi doctrines, but now he hated him for it. How did stupid Jedi philosophy trump years and years of friendship? How could Obi-Wan do this to him? If his old mentor had let go of the rules just once, had done what was _right_ instead of what the _Council_ wanted, things would be so different now. Anakin tried to believe the influence of the other Masters was the only reason Obi-Wan had gone along with the ridiculous plan to take over the Republic; the reason he had not only hidden all of this from Anakin but asked him to betray the Supreme Chancellor, the only one of his friends who wasn't now stabbing him in the back.

But he couldn't quite convince himself that was the truth.

Anakin had long suspected his Master of holding him back, of not trusting him, as the Council clearly always had. Painful as it was, this was only confirmation of doubts he'd had for years. It was hardly a surprise.

_Padmé _turning on him though… nothing in the universe could ever have prepared him for that. The only possible conclusion was that it was Obi-Wan's fault. _He_ had never threatened her in any way. The truth was exactly the opposite: Anakin had done all of this for her! He did things he would never have done otherwise, all to gain the strength he needed to save her from death. He loved Padmé with all his heart, and she knew it. She was supposed to be standing by his side after he threw down his new "Master". They were supposed to rule the galaxy _together_, as he had been trying to explain when Obi-Wan showed up ruined everything.

The only part he still didn't understand was what possessed Padmé to bring Obi-Wan here. He had gathered enough from his conversation with her to know that she wasn't oblivious to what the Jedi Master was up to. It sounded as if he had come right out and told her that Anakin had to be stopped! What could Obi-Wan have said that would convince her to help bring about her husband's death?

Anakin couldn't imagine, and he didn't particularly want to. He needed to focus on making sure they failed, not understanding how Jedi could brainwash good people. And it was made worse by the knowledge that they had been brainwashing him too, ever since the age of nine. It was a wonder he was able to break free of their snare of lies before it was too late.

"I will do what I must," he heard Obi-Wan's familiar voice saying.

_That's all you ever do_, Anakin fumed silently, every muscle in his back tensing.

The familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber's emitter erupted through the other background noise, proving just how much the Jedi meant what he'd said.

So this was the end.

Up until now, he hadn't truly decided he was going to kill Obi-Wan, clinging to a pathetic shadow of a hope that he wouldn't have to. But that was no longer a choice that held much appeal. His "friend" had not only deceived him and turned the love of his life against him, but intended to _kill_ him. What right did Obi-Wan think he had, bringing Anakin's entire life crashing down around his ears? Lord Vader's fingers itched for the handgrip of his lightsaber.

Suddenly he was looking forward to this.

"You will try," he shot back, gathering the Force for a back flip that would carry him within range.

Then everything was a bright red-orange blur as he catapulted backwards, activating his own lightsaber in midair. It met Obi-Wan's with a crash, and the duel was on.

He let his full fury loose on the Jedi Master, not even bothering or needing to aim, borrowing speed from the Force until his eyes could hardly keep up with the two whirling blurs that were their sky-colored blades. Obi-Wan parried every time, retreating slowly backward, but as usual he was being excessively careful. His blade didn't move any farther than it had to in order to block Anakin's every stroke, and he spun and twisted so much that the Sith Lord would have had trouble hitting him even if he _hadn't_ diverted his attacks.

But in the end, Obi-Wan's considerable skill and effort hardly made a difference. He had allowed Anakin to drive him all the way to the edge of the landing platform. Just one more step backwards and Obi-Wan would be plummeting into the lava... He was _so_ _close_, if he could just end it now…

But Obi-Wan found an opportunity to spin off to his left, and kept pivoting until Anakin was between him and his death. Frustrated and unaccustomed to such a challenge, the Sith Lord decided it was time to modify his strategy a little.

He kicked Obi-Wan in the chest hard enough to send him catapulting backwards, though the Force turned it into a controlled flip. Obi-Wan landed with relatively good balance, a lot more distance between himself and Anakin, and, most unfortunately, another escape route.

Anakin had sent him flying straight toward the open bunker doors.

He didn't even have to wonder if Obi-Wan would retreat inside. It never crossed his mind to be uncertain. Obi-Wan was Obi-Wan. That was what he did.

Though, arguably, it was the perfect strategy to counter Anakin's brutally fierce offense, so he shouldn't have been surprised. No one standing their ground or trying to advance was going to live more than a few minutes in a duel against the Chosen One. In fact, anyone but Obi-Wan would surely be dead by now. As far as Anakin could tell, there were only two reasons he had lasted this long: his obsession with the defense-oriented Soresu style, and his thousands of hours of sparring practice with Anakin. That combination could almost be considered cheating.

Except that it wasn't that same old Anakin that Obi-Wan was facing this time; it was Darth Vader. Vader knew all Anakin's little tricks, yes, but his fighting style was a lot less restrained. Vader's one purpose right now was to kill this double-crossing Jedi, and somehow, _somehow_ find a way to save Padmé once he did.  
Anakin redoubled his attack. He was getting exceptionally good at channeling his hatred for his opponent into strength. He had, after all, had a lot of practice along the way. The Tuskens, Dooku, Gunray… anyone who tried to take away someone or something he loved. They were evil. He hated them beyond words, and that more than included his former Master.

As Anakin lashed out at Obi-Wan again, his face twisted in wordless rage that would have sent a rancor scurrying for cover.

His unsuitably Jedi-colored blade was a deadly pin-wheeling blur, and Obi-Wan had to work harder to keep up, but neither of them was so much as scratched yet. Anakin supposed that he should be impressed, but all he felt was the sickening hate that drove his need for revenge, revenge that was entirely justified.

_I would have let you live. You just didn't want to understand, did you? None of you did. Call me the "Chosen One" and treat me like an insubordinate Padawan. Put me on the Council and deliberately ignore my advice. Lie to me and then ask me to lie to a friend for you. Not in this millennium._

The erratic rhythm of crackling lightsaber clashes sped up as Anakin's rage built. Obi-Wan was making the occasional attack of his own, but Anakin indisputably directed the battle. The only way he could have attacked more quickly was to have multiple lightsabers, and that wasn't worth the changes he'd have to make to his fighting style. This was the way Anakin fought best: one on one, no rules.

He pushed away the nagging voice in the back of his mind that reminded him that wasn't entirely true. He and Obi-Wan had always worked better as a team than either of them alone. At least until Obi-Wan destroyed their friendship with his stupid "loyalty" to the Jedi Order. Obi-Wan didn't understand loyalty. He just used the fact that Anakin _did_ to his own advantage.

This conviction became the fury behind his next overhead chop. When Obi-Wan blocked it and sent his blade spinning away yet again, it was as if he was taunting Anakin with the very fact that he was still alive. Alive because Anakin had defied orders, even abandoned entire missions, to come rushing to his rescue. _That_ was what loyalty meant: willingness to do anything for your friends.

_How many times have I saved your life? How can that mean nothing to you?_

Obi-Wan spun again, skirting the very edge of his range. Anakin noticed, with a twinge of pride, that Obi-Wan was at least wary of him if not downright afraid. Anakin was stronger than he was, and he finally saw it, finally admitted it, as so many Jedi Masters had refused to do.

"_... You are strong and wise, Anakin. I am very proud of you. I have trained you since you were a small child, and you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be." A smile. A hand on Anakin's shoulder. A dip of his head, and then Obi-Wan turned to board the shuttle that would take him to Utapau…_

He crushed the memory in a mental fist. Fine. So Obi-Wan had recognized his abilities before. Why then did he think he could defeat Anakin now? Was he the only Jedi left in the whole galaxy? The only being alive who thought he might stand a chance?

And was that really the last time they had spoken as friends?

Obi-Wan's whirring lightsaber brought Anakin back to the present, and he blocked it behind his back as he side-stepped and turned, getting at a better angle to counter. Obi-Wan spun out of range yet again. Anakin followed, pivoting as he stepped forward, ready to strike again, until—

What was he—?

Their backs collided, and both lost their balance for a moment, mentally as well as physically. Anakin recovered first, and slashed sideways at the Jedi Master, hoping he might finally catch him off guard.

No such luck. If there had been such a thing, of course. The Force had undoubtedly warned him just in time.

Obi-Wan staggered backwards, but blocked his assault easily enough. An increasingly irked Anakin was forced to follow him into the next room as he retreated yet _again_, through a hallway that was just a little too narrow for their spinning blades and ended up showering them with yellow sparks.

Anakin couldn't have minded less. Maybe the traitor would catch on fire—that would save him all this trouble. Of course, wishing was a pointless use of his focus. If he wanted this tedious fight to end sometime today, he needed to concentrate on Obi-Wan.

The Jedi Master spun, and ducked, and swept Anakin's blade away again and again. He just couldn't seem to hit him, no matter what he tried, and Anakin was trying every trick he knew. The only problem was that, not by coincidence, this was also every trick Obi-Wan knew. It was impossible. It was worse than impossible. It was like fighting _himself_.

"Palpatine was right. I should have just left you to die back on the _Invisible Hand_."

He didn't realize that he had spoken the words aloud until Obi-Wan gave him a pained look and answered.

"Please tell me you weren't his apprentice even then."

He blocked Anakin's next attack as if he was still engrossed in the duel, but his attention was obviously on the conversation.

"No, of course not," Anakin said, even as he continued to rain blow after blow on him. "Now it's your turn. Were you planning to overthrow him even during that rescue mission?"

"_What_? Anakin—"

The Sith Lord grimaced. That was the tone that preceded every lecture he had ever gotten from Obi-Wan.

"Save it. I'm not your apprentice anymore. It's time you got used to it."

Another twinge of hurt crossed his Master's – no, _old_ Master's – face. Anakin found that he was beginning to enjoy it.

"I have failed you, Anakin," he admitted slowly, nodding, for all appearances meaning every word. And Anakin, of all people, would know. "I _have_ failed you."

He wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, and now wasn't the time to figure it out, either. So Obi-Wan was finally admitting the truth. The words might be sincere, but they were meaningless with Obi-Wan still bent on killing him. It was a little too late for saying sorry.

Anakin rushed him while he was still waiting for his reply. The Jedi leapt backwards onto the huge conference table that dominated the room, and Anakin was forced, once again, to follow or lose his advantage.

The instant his feet landed solidly on the smooth surface, he faked a wild spinning slice to the left. And Obi-Wan actually fell for it! Anakin physically seized him by the throat, bending him back until he was practically upside down. All he had to do was keep squeezing, and keep Obi-Wan's lightsaber hand out of the way…

A strangled rasp escaped Obi-Wan's throat as he gasped in vain for breath. He stared up helplessly at his ex-best friend, but he wouldn't be finding any mercy in those ice-blue eyes. Regret that it had to come to this, maybe, but that was the Jedi's own fault. If he was going to try to kill him, Anakin was perfectly willing to see to it that he never got the chance.

"Ugh!"

His booted foot sent Anakin flying forward over his head, losing his grip on Obi-Wan's throat and landing hard on his shoulder. He hardly noticed the pain though, in his sudden panic.

He had _lost_ his_ lightsaber_.

There was at least one thing Obi-Wan had managed to drill into his head so completely that he couldn't have forgotten it if his mind was wiped: "_This weapon is your life!_"

Anakin scrambled to his feet, fully expecting fatal, white-hot pain to end his existence at any instant. He didn't even waste time with a sigh of relief when he saw that Obi-Wan was still reeling from being starved of oxygen and not thinking of attack.

Anakin lunged forward, centered his balance only a heartbeat later, and pulled off a perfect place-kick. His boots slammed solidly into Obi-Wan's stomach, and even though he landed hard on his hip, he didn't care. He had hurt Obi-Wan more. As he regained his footing, Anakin's eyes followed the blue blur that was Obi-Wan's blade as it spun across the room and landed with a clatter. Now they were even again.

_This weapon is your life, Obi-Wan! Ha. See how _you_ like it._

Anakin dove at him again, but he met Obi-Wan's flying knee in mid-air instead. His back slammed into the plasteel tabletop with a sharp thud. The impact jolted his head, and all he saw was white light for an instant, but he wasn't too dazed to notice Obi-Wan calling his lightsaber back to his hand. Anakin reached out desperately toward his own, and it smacked into his palm and ignited an instant before Obi-Wan's killing blow would have been just that. The Jedi continued to force the crossed blades down toward him, until they were almost scorching Anakin's face. He forced aching arm muscles to hold, every ounce of hatred plainly written on his face as he fought to remain living a few seconds longer.

Obi-Wan tore his lightsaber away first, and Anakin seized this unexpected chance. He sent a surge of the Force at the Jedi Master; just enough to knock him off the table and buy himself time to get up.

Thoroughly satisfied with the change of the tide, Anakin got to his feet and leapt off the tabletop to reengage. He landed with perfect balance and a firm grip on the Force. He was more than ready to end this, and the reluctant determination on his old Master's face told him the decision was mutual.

_Finally, no more games._

Obi-Wan stood his ground this time as Anakin pelted him with everything he had. The Jedi Master didn't make a single attack of his own, but he blocked every blow like he had meant to put his blade in that spot all along. Anakin wasn't even coming _close_ to hitting him anymore. Unlike the droids they had often faced, he was familiar enough with Obi-Wan's "impenetrable wall" act to know that the best strategy was to stop trying to hit him. Instead, Anakin tried to throw him off by spinning his lightsaber over his wrist in a bent figure eight, off to his back and right, then left, right, and left again.

It took a couple of seconds for Anakin to notice what Obi-Wan had started doing in the meantime.

_Oh, seriously, this is sad._

Obi-Wan had begun that same exact flourish at the _same exact instant_, mirroring him perfectly. Their identically colored blades flashed brighter as they crashed together yet again. Anakin could tell Obi-Wan hadn't been intentionally blocking that time. If they hadn't chosen attacks that overlapped, they could both have been in pieces right now.

_Stop reading my mind_, he wanted to shout, even though he knew the Jedi was doing no such thing. What more could he do? Maybe while Obi-Wan was focused on their weapons, he could try…

Anakin's free hand shot forward with snakelike speed, accompanied with a blast of the Force.

When his hand got there, Obi-Wan's open palm was already only inches away. He could feel the explosive energy of their opposing, simultaneous Force-pushes, and it was getting difficult to hold. As it slipped out of his control, all he could do was glare daggers at the man who had been like a father to him for so many years, and wait to see which of them would end up flying off his feet.

And suddenly Obi-Wan shrunk from inches away to the entire room away. Anakin's back slammed into a very solid wall-sized monitor, and as he got up off of the controls, a frantic beeping sounded. He didn't bother to look at the warning on the screen; he could feel the energy shields surrounding the bunker shutting down.

_Great_, he thought sarcastically. Soon it would be raining lava inside.

Obi-Wan had crashed into one of the consoles on the opposite side of the room, in a disturbing replay of what Dooku had done to him back on Grievous' ship. Two quick bounds assisted by the Force brought Anakin into attack range again. Obi-Wan blocked once before springing away, and—

"No!"

Anakin stopped short so suddenly that he swayed, but didn't dare look behind him. He didn't need to anyway; even if he hadn't recognized her voice, he would have known from Obi-Wan's reaction who it was.

:ii:

_Pain was the first thing Padmé's dazed mind registered._

_Physical pain was the easier one to understand; she was lying on a hard stone floor with no memory of falling. Falling… the word was nudging at something in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp it._

_With an effort, her eyes blinked open, but she thought for a moment that she might very well be dead. Everything that wasn't black smoke was glowing a hellish red. But no… this was a little too familiar, too…_

_Mustafar._

Anakin.

_Suddenly she remembered all too much._

_She let her eyelids scrape shut again, and heaved a shuddering sigh as the tears returned. She didn't want to remember. She could hardly stand to be alive, if that meant these horrible memories would be her reality forever._

_"My lady, I'm so glad you're all right!" a metallic voice exclaimed. She sat up reluctantly to see the gold-plated protocol droid standing just off to her left, and only now did she notice that R2-D2 had been prodding her repeatedly._

_With a distinctly apologetic whistle, he stopped._

"_Threepio, where's Anakin? Where have they gone?"_

_R2-D2 gave a series of tootles and beeps, which C-3PO obligingly translated._

"_He says he last saw Master Anakin and Master Kenobi heading toward that bunker, over there. I _would_ advise you however, considering your current condition and the potential danger, to return to the ship."_

"_Potential—? No, I can't! I have to—"_

Have to what? Know if Anakin is all right?

_The Anakin she loved would never be all right again, not as long as this new Lord of the Sith lived. And Obi-Wan was trying to kill him, probably even at this very moment…_

"_Threepio, help me up."_

"_My lady, I strongly—"_

_She hauled herself unsteadily to her feet without his help, leaning on the smooth dome of Artoo's head. She just couldn't accept that Anakin was beyond saving. Someone like him, someone so good, couldn't simply snap and become a heartless monster. There had to be good in him, lost somewhere inside._

_Hot, stinging tears rolled down her cheeks as she made her way slowly toward the bunker C-3PO had indicated, one painful step at a time._

_Because she had seen the monster in his eyes, as vividly as she saw the flames of Mustafar now. The man using the Force to choke her, glaring at her with blazing yellow eyes, death written all over his face… that was her Ani._

_She was beginning to understand how Obi-Wan, his best friend, could come to her door and ask for her help in killing him, and the revelation was tearing her apart. How _could_ she?_

"_But—my lady, where are you—?"_

"_I'm going to find him."_

_Which "him" she was referring to, the droid didn't ask, and Padmé wouldn't have known how to answer._

:ii:

"Stop, _please_…"

Conflicting emotions clawed at each other inside Anakin's head. Mostly, he just didn't know what to make of her return. Was that a simple cry to stop the fighting, or actual concern for him? Or… he wondered, his heart plummeting sickeningly, was it concern for Obi-Wan?

He searched for the answer in the Jedi Master's eyes, not trusting him enough to turn his back and look at Padmé.

Obi-Wan's blue-grey eyes pleaded with him to change his mind, to be someone he no longer was. His expression conveyed the disappointment of a lifetime, as if everything Anakin had done, and was doing, caused him physical pain.

"Is there nothing left of Anakin Skywalker in this 'Darth Vader'? I thought you at least still cared about your wife. She loves you!"

Boiling rage threatened to overtake him, and he would have stabbed Obi-Wan right then and there if Padmé's sudden arrival hadn't left him lost in shades of grey again. He didn't need this, not now. He had made his choice already, hadn't he?

"You have no right to say that," Anakin fumed, his mechanical hand screeching as he clenched it too hard. "You're the one who turned her against me!"

"What?" Then realization dawned on Obi-Wan's face. "Anakin… she didn't bring me here to kill you; she refused! And for her loyalty, you left her back there to die!"

The Sith Lord blinked. That… that couldn't be true, could it? It was too good to possibly be the truth. Obi-Wan was lying.

Without thinking, he turned to look at her for confirmation. Her beautiful face was red with tears, and when she met his eyes, hers were full of fear.

_Fear of me_.

That realization twisted into his heart like a knife. She hadn't betrayed him at all, and he had _attacked_ her…

_What have I done?_

In the silence, the hum of his lightsaber was obnoxiously loud. Wait, his lightsaber! A sudden panic made him whip around again—so _stupid_, how could he have _forgotten_—? Obi-Wan was still behind him, ready to—

But Obi-Wan hadn't taken the perfect opportunity to kill him. He was just standing there, his own weapon hanging loosely in his hand, deactivated.

Anakin could only stare at him, not comprehending.

The corners of Obi-Wan's mouth twitched in just the faintest suggestion of a smile.

Anakin automatically opened his own mouth to tell him off him for smirking.

"Hey, don't—"

And then he realized what he was saying. Overwhelmed with the fog of confusion, he closed his eyes and tried to think. He hadn't slept in so long, it was _hard_…

"Anakin," Padmé's voice called him back. He opened his eyes again as he felt her turn him gently toward her, brushing stray hairs out of his face. Her warm, soft hand was trembling. "Anakin, don't do this to me. Forget about everything else. It—it doesn't matter. Please…"

He took her hand in his human one, and pressed it to his lips. His eyes were swimming and blurred, but his mind was finally clear.

He just couldn't think of the right words that could begin to explain it all… what he had done… She would never accept it. And in truth, neither would he.

"I'm sorry," he choked finally, grimacing against the unstoppable tears. He turned his lightsaber off, and just stared at it, hating the thing. It was the same weapon that had ended the lives of all those innocent younglings back in the Jedi Temple, and for what? He still couldn't save her.

She didn't reply, but she pulled him into a hug, clinging to him as if he had come back to life and she was afraid of losing him again. He rested his head on her sweet-smelling hair, and just savored the perfect moment he had never expected would come again.

She didn't ask anything of him, just held him as they both stood there shaking.

No, the shaking was coming from _outside_.

He looked up, and there was no visible damage to the bunker's roof yet, but in the Force he could feel it beginning to come apart under the relentless shower of lava. He glanced at Obi-Wan, who still hadn't budged, but was also watching the ceiling with apprehension.

He may not have murdered Anakin when he had his first chance, but that didn't mean he still intended not to. Anakin was never going to make the mistake of trusting him again. Unfortunately, his first priority right now was getting Padmé away from here, so he was going to need either Obi-Wan's cooperation or his death.

"So what now?"

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, but in honest surprise rather than as part of some inside joke like it always used to be.

"If you're willing to refrain from slicing my head off, I'd be obliged to do the same. We can argue out our differences when there isn't immediate peril. Preferably _without_ lightsabers."

He held out his hand, as if they were meeting for the first time.

Anakin pulled gently away from Padmé and slowly, suspiciously, reached out and shook the Jedi Master's hand. Obi-Wan's expression was, for once, completely unreadable.

"So what now?" he echoed Anakin's question after an uncomfortable silence.

"We get out of here before this place comes apart."

"Back to the ship?"

"You mean Padmé's?" Anakin frowned in thought. Something else had just crossed his mind. Something that was probably even more important than how they were going to escape. That part would be easy. After all, they had more than enough experience with that kind of thing.

"Master, what do you say we go pay a visit to the last Lord of the Sith?"

_Did I just call him "Master"? Stupid old habit…_

:ii:

Palpatine was worried. Yoda had vanished, but chances were less than slim that he was actually dead. The revolting green creature had a tendency to be frustratingly difficult to kill.

But that was only half of what bothered him; something had happened to Lord Vader. One moment, he had felt his apprentice was in danger, and the next, he could sense nothing of him at all.

Some bungling idiot Jedi hadn't actually survived and _defeated_ him, had he? If so, Palpatine had wasted years molding the wrong Jedi into the perfect Sith apprentice.

No, he decided, Anakin had been the right choice. He was undeniably one of the most powerful Jedi of all time, and one of very few that hadn't been brainwashed quite thoroughly enough by their misguided principles. Anakin was the perfect choice, and Palpatine actually suspected that before long, the boy would surpass even him in power.

No, no one could possibly have defeated him. There must be another explanation, and he was going to find out what it was.

"Ready my ship," he ordered the commander of the clones who had answered his call.

"Right away, sir," came the obedient reply, and half the squad rushed off. Palpatine followed at a slower pace with the rest of them. Despite his anxiety for his apprentice, he wasn't going anywhere without a few bodyguards. His own safety was the main concern, and there was no telling if more Jedi might have survived, unlikely though it was. If they had, he would be their first target.

They continued on for several minutes before Palpatine sensed something wasn't quite right. There was a distressing disturbance in the Force, as if Yoda himself was standing right in front of him…

He started to order the clones to halt, but a burning bar of blue energy at his throat cut him off pretty abruptly.

"Hello, your Excellency."

Out of the blue, Obi-Wan Kenobi had dropped from the ceiling and landed in the midst of half a battalion of clone troopers and a Sith Lord. What was more, he seemed to think himself terribly clever because of it. It was as if he actually believed he could win. Palpatine would have laughed at the very idea, if his throat wasn't millimeters from being burned right through.

This detail cast a slight doubt in his mind, but he knew Jedi like Kenobi too well. More likely than not, he would attempt to take him prisoner rather than kill him right here. He just had to play his cards the right way.

"And what do you intend to do with me?" he asked, contempt dripping from his every word. There was no need to be _too_ subtle.

"Oh, _I'm_ not going to do anything," Kenobi replied conversationally.

He heard another lightsaber hum to life behind him.

Yoda. It must be. That would explain the unaccountably strong presence of light, which he knew could not possibly have been Kenobi alone.

"Master Windu was right. You're too dangerous to be left alive."

Alarm bells went of in his head a little too late. That wasn't Yoda's grammar, and it certainly wasn't Yoda's voice. It was _Anakin_!

Palpatine found himself having a very bad feeling about this…

"I should kill you. So consider yourself lucky you've failed to suck the weak, forgiving Jedi out of me. You're under arrest."

Palpatine turned to face him. The boy was entirely serious. How did this happen? Where was the powerful, fiery-eyed Sith apprentice he had sent to Mustafar mere hours ago? And why was Kenobi with him? This _wasn't right_!

But Palpatine was good at concealing his thoughts, as well as coming up with improvised plans. There was still one obvious way to bring Anakin back to the dark side where he belonged: kill Kenobi. And if that didn't quite do it, at least it would make Palpatine feel better.

:ii:


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still have no rights to these characters or their universe, and never will. George Lucas rocks, so I don't even feel bad for giving him all the credit.

Author's Note: First off, I'm sorry that somebody thought the end of ch. 1 was the end of the story. My fault for not un-checking the "completed" box when I pulled ch. 2 off for editing. Lo siento. Anyways, the really angry reviewer I got earlier had some very good points, (even though they didn't have to be so rude about it) and my friend agreed, so I changed some things to make it more realistic/likely, and am working on adding a third chapter now, which will probably be more like a short epilogue-type thing.

But enough boringness. Back to the galaxy far, far away…

:ii:

Chapter II

:ii:

Obi-Wan staggered back as he deflected the disembodied crimson blade that had come entirely out of nowhere. Palpatine had activated his lightsaber with the Force and sent it spinning toward him without bothering to call it to his hand first. It started flying back toward its master before it had even clattered to the floor, but Anakin dove in the way and snatched it out of the air.

"Circle around; we can't shoot them at this angle without hitting the Emperor!" one of the clones barked at the others, apparently taking this as a signal that they should attack. The clones formed up and rushed forward, sticking to the edges of the hallway.

"Anakin!"

"_You_ take them. Someone has to watch Palpatine."

"They're surrounding us! I can't defend from all sides at—"

"Way ahead of you, Master."

Anakin tossed him Palpatine's lightsaber.

But blue lightning hit Obi-Wan before he could catch it, and only because he was blasted backwards off his feet did the blade narrowly miss impaling him.

The pain was indescribable, as if the searing, tearing heat was coming from _inside_ him, from every organ and muscle at once. He cried out involuntarily, and let go of his lightsaber for fear of accidentally dismembering himself with his jerking arms. The logical side of him was speculating that this was Force lightning, most likely a dark side power of the Emperor's. The rest of his mind was too occupied with a soundless scream for any coherent thought. He heard a clone trooper blaster cocking, far too close for comfort and yet a million miles away, but he was hardly in a position to do anything about it.

He was going to die.

There was no doubt in his mind, but a little more regret than a Jedi should feel. So he let it go. It was, after all, something he was getting good at. Padmé had brought Anakin back to the light, and that was all he could have possibly hoped for.

Then, as he accepted that this would very likely be his last thought, the lightning stopped. He could smell his robes smoking, and still felt vaguely as if he was on fire, but the burning wasn't getting any stronger.

Then a blur that was probably Anakin leaped right over him, one red and one blue blade in his hands. Obi-Wan turned his head just in time to see a clone trooper fall to the ground only centimeters away, still clutching the gun that had been about to end his life. Anakin proceeded to incapacitate every last trooper in the room before the dazed Jedi Master even got to his feet.

He deactivated the two lightsabers, and just stared at the one in his left hand: Palpatine's. Then he looked up at his long-time Master with haunted eyes, an expression Obi-Wan realized he'd seen there far too often lately.

"I had to. He was going to kill you."

What was he talking about? Obi-Wan turned around, and saw that the Sith Lord was lying facedown on the floor. There was a burn hole in his back.

When he faced Anakin again, there was a lot more sympathy on his own face. He remembered all to well Anakin's refusal even to spy on Palpatine. He didn't want to imagine how hard it must have been for Anakin to kill him, even knowing he was a Sith Lord. And he had done it to save Obi-Wan, even though he had been trying to take his former Padawan's life mere hours ago.

Obi-Wan didn't know what to say.

Nevertheless, Anakin seemed to understand what was going through his head.

"We should go," he said with a small, sad smile. "Before more of them show up."

Obi-Wan nodded, and the two of them took off at a jog.

There had been a time when Anakin would have jokingly said something like, "You didn't think I would actually desert you, Master, did you?" Now, after Mustafar, a remark like that would have taken on a whole different meaning. He had fully expected, several times during that duel, to die at his best friend's hands.

He knew he should be grateful for Anakin saving his life just now, and he was, but the memory of Lord Vader sharing the same face as his apprentice and friend continued to haunt him, casting a tainted shadow on even the things Anakin did right.

"You're thinking about Mustafar, aren't you," Anakin said. It was more a statement than a question.

"I hardly think it's something I'll ever be able to forget," he replied coldly.

Anakin was silent for a long moment.

"I know the feeling. But I don't know what to _do_… Now the Jedi are destroyed, and Padmé…"

Not this again. Obi-Wan was beginning to realize that Anakin _did_ worry an awful lot more than he used to think, but only about one person.

"She's all right, Anakin. She's in one of Coruscant's best medical centers. You can go find her before we leave the planet."

"No, you don't understand…" Anakin took a deep, shuddering breath. "I had a vision, must have been days ago now, of her dying… in childbirth. Palpatine said he knew how to manipulate the Force to save people from death. I was so afraid for her… I took his offer, and everything that came with it."

He shook his head as if to dislodge memories he couldn't bear to see again.

"But he _lied. _Only his Sith master ever had that power, and I still don't know what it is, and I'm afraid that even after all this mess… what if she dies, Obi-Wan?"

That was it: the missing piece to the puzzle. That was what had tormented Anakin ever since they came back from the Outer Rim. It was how Anakin could justify in his mind the slaughter of a hundred innocent people, and it was why he hadn't breathed a word of his troubles to the Jedi. How could he, when he knew he would be thrown out of the Order?

Obi-Wan knew the answer a Jedi should give, but it wasn't one that would comfort Anakin in the least. The question was whether Anakin deserved his sympathy after all he had put Padmé and the Jedi through, not to mention the entire Republic.

"I don't know, Anakin," he sighed at last, unable to prolong his indecision any longer under that intense stare. Every second he hesitated, Anakin read something else into it, whether accurate or not. "We can at least be there at her side."

Anakin looked away, not as if he was staring at nothing, but as if he could actually see Padmé off in the distance. Slowly, he nodded.

"Thank you for not saying what everyone else did, even if you thought it. About 'letting things pass out of my life'."

Obi-Wan didn't reply. That remark didn't require a response, for which he was grateful. Conversation with Anakin was uncomfortably strained now, though he had been able to ignore the fact in the chaos of escaping Mustafar. That had been like switching back to default, but now… it was painfully obvious that things between them weren't the same. And they likely never would be. He couldn't get the events of the volcanic world out of his head any more than he could the things he had seen on the Temple's security holocrons.

"You're still angry with me," Anakin said softly, but still audibly over the sound of their racing footsteps. He must have known the blatant understatement would get Obi-Wan talking, or more accurately, ranting. It was the invitation he'd subconsciously been waiting for, to get all the unspoken thoughts out of the way, and he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity.

"Shouldn't I be angry? Anakin, I ought to have killed you! You helped to destroy not only the Jedi Order, but the _entire Republic_! Everything millions of people have worked so hard for, obliterated in one day because of your ambition! This wasn't a case of your usual thoughtlessness; you didn't even care, did you?"

Anakin uneasily averted his gaze, with an expression any schoolteacher or parent would have recognized.

"I should have told you a long time ago. That we were married, I mean. Padmé said you figured it out anyhow…"

Obi-Wan was momentarily lost by the change of topic, and didn't appreciate him dodging the question, but he decided to wait and let Anakin explain. For one more second at least.

"Tell me the truth, Obi-Wan. Would you have turned me in to the Council?"

That caught him off guard. He had never seen Anakin look so serious.

And he shouldn't even have needed to ask a question like that. As Anakin himself had said, Obi-Wan had guessed as much anyhow. What stung was the fact that Anakin had doubted his loyalty even back then. And worse yet was the knowledge that his mistrust wasn't completely unjustified. Obi-Wan had known he was the wrong person to go ask Anakin to spy on the Chancellor; that it would come back to bite him someday.

He had never expected it to be this bad, though.

"Did I?" was his simple reply.

Anakin took in a slow, deep breath, then let it out with a melancholy chuckle and a shake of his head. His hands curled into fists, then gradually unclenched again.

"I should have trusted you," he admitted at last. "But you have to be able to see why I didn't. You were asking me to spy on _Palpatine_…" He trailed off, looking as if he had just had an unwelcome revelation. He swallowed hard.

"And you were right. He was the Sith Lord all along… Even when I first _met_ him."

"You're no more to blame for not realizing it than any of the rest of us," Obi-Wan assured him, half surprised at the words coming out of his own mouth. "But I think we need to finish this conversation later." They had arrived at the doors now, and he could sense a considerable number of clone troopers on the other side. The task at hand was always first priority in life-or-death situations such as this.

"Master, I helped him _kill_ Master Windu! I didn't just _let_ him do it, I cut his arm off!" Anakin blurted, completely disregarding Obi-Wan's last comment, raw pain and remorse cracking his voice. "And that was when I _knew_ what Palpatine was."

With those words, those few words, the reality of how far his friend had fallen hit painfully home all over again. It was every bit as devastating as fighting him on Mustafar, just as much of a horrible jolt as seeing him massacre younglings via the security recordings. The only difference was that he could finally ask the question:

"Anakin, _why_?"

But he realized, as he spoke the words, that he had already been given the answer.

_Palpatine had told Anakin he knew how to save Padmé… That was all it would take._

"To save her," Anakin replied, confirming what he had just figured out. "And because I believed the Jedi were plotting to take over the Republic. And because Palpatine was my friend. Or I thought he was. I don't know. Everything was so confused… I was just so afraid I'd lose Padmé, nothing else mattered."

He paused as he summoned the right words, and when he spoke again, his voice rose. Obi-Wan got the feeling that all the secrets were about to come spilling out, and that this wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Do you know how hard it was, watching her life tick away, doing nothing, being told repeatedly that it was wrong to try to save her, to even _love_ her?" Anakin paced restlessly back and forth, his narrowed eyes flashing with anger. "Being told that I had to… 'let go of everything I fear to lose'…? Being excluded from the Council while I did their dirty work, spying on a _friend_? Even _you_ were in on it, and you never told me anything!"

Anakin was breathing hard, and now he glared blaster scores at the wall.

"Do _you_ know what it was like to be fired on by my own troops, and then to escape only to learn I might very well be the last Jedi alive?" Obi-Wan shot back, just as intense but without the extra volume. "Do you know what it was like to return to the Temple, even knowing what I would find there? To see the bodies of friends, colleagues, even younglings, killed not only by clones, but by _lightsaber_? By one of our own? And then—to learn what Master Yoda had already guessed, but I'd never have _dreamed_ of—that _you_ were the one who fell?"

"You didn't have to go rushing off to kill me the moment you found out!"

That remark was infuriatingly unfair, not to mention untrue. Obi-Wan finally lost the last hold he had on his temper.

"It's not as if I wanted to! I had no choice! Anakin, if it was _me_, what would _you_ have done? Thrown away your oath as a Jedi and joined me?"

Anakin had no answer, which was an answer in itself.

Obi-Wan kept going while he had his attention. "I had thought you were dead, but the truth was even worse. I watched my brother turn his back on everything he was and pledge his life to a Lord of the Sith. I was the one who trained you, so how could I blame anyone else? I hated myself, at least as much as _you_ did. I wished I had died back on Naboo. I wished…" he paused, choking on the words, but he had to say them. "I wished Qui-Gon had never found you."

"Master, you don't m—"

But Anakin cut himself off. His eyes, which had remained locked onto Obi-Wan's for that entire speech, only held his gaze for one more moment, but it was enough for him to read the answer there.

"You do. You mean it."

Suddenly Obi-Wan couldn't swallow, but it had nothing to do with the dark side of the Force. Anakin's pain was tearing him apart, and he couldn't imagine why.

Anakin turned away and started pacing again. Somehow, he managed to face away from Obi-Wan the entire time.

"Anakin—"

But that was just an impulse; he didn't actually know what to say. He wasn't used to his words having much of an effect on his former Padawan, and now that they did, he wished they didn't.

It had been so simple a statement, but it meant infinitely more than anyone besides the two of them could have hoped to understand. Had Qui-Gon not stumbled across this anomalous boy when he did, Anakin would still be a slave to a junk dealer on an arid, Hutt-occupied Outer Rim world. He would never have known a better life, never had the faintest glimpse of hope of fulfilling his dreams, forced to tolerate a meager, useless existence that ran completely opposite his character.

But more than that, Obi-Wan had essentially just said he considered all the time and training he'd spent with his Padawan, all the things they'd learned from each other, years of fighting side by side in a struggle that went far deeper the war itself, a bond strengthened by a promise to a Jedi master who had meant the world to both of them, the close friendship that intertwined their whole lives, everything they'd ever gone through—to be an absolute waste.

"I swear to you," Anakin said at last, his voice wavering but cold, still facing the opposite wall, "I would undo it all if I could." He turned, only partway, only enough to see Obi-Wan's reaction, and there was a hint of Vader in his eyes. "But I—"

"Can't."

Anakin nodded reproachfully, and deep heart-wrenching hurt seemed to melt Vader away as quickly as he had come. Obi-Wan realized at last that he'd seen glimpses of this dark creature in Anakin all along, and that only now did it have a name.

No, that wasn't quite right either. Its name was still Anakin Skywalker. It was part of who he was, not some alter ego that seized control every once in a while. It was all Anakin, and it always had been, as far as the Jedi Master knew.

Yet Obi-Wan couldn't hate him.

"And I know nothing but erasing the past will ever be enough…" Anakin went on, light-years away in his own little world. He held his empty hands out in front of him, as if letting the past slip away through his fingers… Obi-Wan saw falling sand, always falling, no matter how tight he tried to hold on, blowing away on the desert wind… What? These weren't his memories.

Then he realized: That was Tatooine.

He was seeing Anakin's.

"…but I'm going to try."

Obi-Wan was jolted from further reflection. He couldn't have understood correctly. It was too improbable, after all that had happened…

"Try what?" he asked warily.

Then Anakin erased all his doubts, in seven simple words.

"I want to be a Jedi again."

Obi-Wan must have blinked half a dozen times before he remembered he had the ability to speak.

"What about Padmé? And your child? You can't be serious—"

"Obi-Wan," Anakin began, with the look of someone trying to explain how stealing wasn't _exactly _wrong, "You said Master Yoda survived, right? That means you and I are still two thirds of the Council—"

"_Anakin_—"

"Well, why not? That rule doesn't conflict with upholding peace and justice and all that. It's ridiculous, and it gets broken anyway. I know I'm not the first Jedi to marry."

Though he didn't particularly like hearing any Jedi rule reduced to dust, Obi-Wan couldn't deny that he was most likely right. About the last part anyway. However, that wasn't the real reason he'd objected. Killing a temple full of Jedi students was a little more troublesome than breaking one rule.

But he couldn't bring himself to say so. Rubbing that in Anakin's face again right now would be not only counterproductive but bordering on cruel.

"And it will happen again, sooner or later," Anakin went on, arguing an argument that, in Obi-Wan's mind, was already over. "Changing the rule to allow marriage would only get it out in the open. That has to be a good thing. All this deception is what destroyed the Order last time." Then as an afterthought, he added, "I _hate_ secrets."

_That_ was an understatement if Obi-Wan had ever heard one. He rolled his eyes.

"I know you do."

"And I know _you_ do. Come on, Obi-Wan."

Despite the fact that he knew he was going to give in, he still didn't want to. Anakin was exploiting the Council's majority-rules system, and switching back and forth between Jedi and Sith a little too easily for Obi-Wan's comfort. Long accustomed to being Anakin's teacher, this bothered him on several levels.

And besides that, his former apprentice had a way of rubbing it in his face whenever he won an argument, an occurrence that was becoming less of a rarity these days.

_But all this is nothing really, compared to how aggressive negotiations were going_.

"All right," he relented with a weary sigh. "I can't imagine Master Yoda will like it, but at this point every decision affects whether or not the Order will survive. The current situation might be desperate enough that he'll agree."

"But if he doesn't, promise you'll vote—"

"Anakin, yes. I'm on your side," he cut him off, trying not to sound exasperated. "I always have been."

His former Padawan smiled, truly smiled, for the first time since before he had become Darth Vader. Since… Obi-Wan couldn't even remember when. But it didn't matter now.

His face gathered itself into a frown once again as he remembered that was far from the last of their troubles.

"Now our remaining dilemma is that, as you may recall, all Jedi are still considered enemies of the Empire. No one else knows Sidious's true identity, and I can't imagine the people taking too kindly to the assassination of their new Emperor. You realize that we'll most likely have to go into hiding until the government sorts itself out, which could be a very long time."

"I know," Anakin replied impatiently, "but I don't think his identity will stay secret much longer. The Senate building has security cams too. They'll have to do an investigation before a new government is set up, and once the HoloNet learns that Palpatine was a Lord of the Sith, people may not mind being rid of him so much."

Obi-Wan was doubtful that it would be that easy, but he had to admit it sounded possible. Information like that tended to leak out, one way or another. Maybe, just maybe, the name of the Jedi could still be redeemed before every last one of them was killed. It was more hope than they'd had in a while, although not quite enough for Obi-Wan's peace of mind. Who would take Palpatine's place? How long would it be before the galaxy was safe for Jedi once more? Where could they hide in the meantime, and how in the stars was he going to convince Anakin to leave Padmé for even one day, let alone the weeks it would most likely take before—

"Now can we go find Padmé?" Anakin asked, assuming he'd won and ended the debate.

Obi-Wan reflected that he'd spent far too much time with his friend if he knew him that much better than he knew himself.

"I suppose so," he replied nevertheless. He'd had more than enough fighting with Anakin for today. The only problem was that they still had to sneak out of the most heavily guarded building on Coruscant, past countless professional soldiers on a very alert lookout for Jedi. This might have been the predicament it sounded, _if _they weren't Jedi. This was all in a day's work for keepers of galactic peace, whether that was a good thing or not.

"Shall we leave the same way we came in?" Obi-Wan suggested briskly.

Anakin visibly wilted, rolling his eyes.

"There are a hundred other ways—"

"All of them involving someone getting hurt."

"Master Yoda found another way out," Anakin insisted, far from willing to give up, "and he's even more of a pacifist than _you_ are."

"Yes, but our way would never have worked for him, and it's possible that _his_ wouldn't work for _us_. There's no way of knowing."

"Maybe you should just _ask_ him then. You have a comlink, don't you?" Anakin asked, a self-satisfied smirk in his eyes and eyes only. He had perfected that look during his years as Obi-Wan's apprentice; enough to mock his Master but not enough to give Obi-Wan a legitimate reason to reprimand him for it.

Obi-Wan just stared at him for a moment, shaking his head.

"You _really_ don't like wearing those things, do you?"

The muscles in Anakin's jaw clenched.

"Easy for you to say. I'm a lot taller than you are, if you haven't noticed." Before Obi-Wan could respond, he held up a hand and conceded, "But I'll wear the stupid disguise anyway, all right? Let's just get it over with. And _I'm_ doing all the talking. You're horrible at imitating their accent."

"Excuse me? This coming from someone half a head taller than they should be?"

Anakin tipped his head and raised his eyebrows in a look Obi-Wan himself had given his Padawan time and time again—one that says, "Are you absolutely _sure_ you don't want to change your mind before I reduce your argument to dust?"

But that small victory wasn't going to be enough for Anakin's ego. Obi-Wan sighed impatiently at his own error, knowing it was too late to take it back.

"So you're agreeing with me. You admit your plan is hopelessly flawed."

This time it was Obi-Wan's turn to roll his eyes.

"Fine, I walked right into that one. But no, I'm not agreeing, and this argument is useless anyhow. I thought you were anxious to see Padmé."

Anakin went deadly serious again in a heartbeat, as Obi-Wan knew he would.

"You're right. There's no time to lose. Let's go."

:ii:

Five minutes later, two clone troopers marched into the med center. The instant the elevator door snapped shut and they were alone, the suspiciously tall one ripped his helmet off.

"I don't know how they _stand_ it. I feel claustrophobic in full body armor after about thirty seconds."

"It's better than being shot to pieces, which is what will happen if you take it off," Obi-Wan told him impatiently for the third time, his filtered voice crackling with static.

Anakin gave the blank stare of his Master's helmet his most skeptical look.

"And exactly who in a _medical center_ is going to shoot dangerous renegade Jedi?"

"If they reported us, legions of _real _troopers would swarm this place within minutes."

"Yeah, which gives us plenty of time to escape, unless we're wearing these ridiculous things that make you run like a one-legged bantha."

Anakin proceeded to take off the rest of the armor as well, until he was once again wearing only his painfully recognizable Jedi robes. It made no difference really; removing his helmet would have been enough, since the whole blasted war had made him so famous.

Surprisingly, Obi-Wan's resigned sigh came across without static. Anakin smiled.

_I win_.

He was frustrated to find that he still felt like a nervous wreck, rising upward at this painstakingly slow crawl. He flicked a glance at the ceiling, considering dealing with this elevator the same way he had the one on the _Invisible Hand_…

"_No_," said Obi-Wan as he piled his armor next to Anakin's, starting to get fed up with his characteristic impatience. "I know what you're thinking, and it's not a good idea. At any rate, there's nothing you can d—"

"Master, this waiting will be the death of me. I have to _know_ if she's okay."

Anakin was entirely serious, and he hoped Obi-Wan realized it. With or without his former Master's approval, he was getting out of here. It had been hard enough leaving Padmé to go face the Emperor, but he had known that was necessary. Stupid unreasonably slow elevators didn't fit that category.

"Oh, all right."

Anakin did a double-take.

"What?"

Dumstruck, he watched Obi-Wan activate his lightsaber and carve a hole in the elevator's ceiling. Only at the last second did he think to back out of the way so it didn't crash down on his head.

_Obi-Wan is actually going along with it?_

"But you owe me for this," the Jedi Master was saying, "and don't make me remind you who had to save the galaxy from Darth Vader all by himself."

"Almost makes up for me saving your life eleven times," Anakin retorted, straightening his robes smugly and shooting Obi-Wan his "I just won and you know it" look.

"Eleven?" Obi-Wan echoed doubtfully, arching an eyebrow. "When was the—"

"The tenth was back there on Mustafar when I let you off the hook after you tried to kill me, plus when I saved you from the Emperor just now."

Without waiting for a response, Anakin leapt through the hole in the ceiling and landed lightly on the elevator's top. Obi-Wan joined him a moment later.

"All the credit for Mustafar should go to Padmé, and you forget _I_ spared your life first. It doesn't count." After a pause, he admitted, "I'll let you have the last one though."

"Fine," Anakin amended, pulling out his tiny grappling device. Obi-Wan did the same. As they made their ascent, at least three times the speed of the elevator, he added, "I'll give you one thing though, Master. For all the times I've saved your skin, you were the toughest opponent I ever fought."

He didn't have to look to see Obi-Wan's rueful smile.

"That's quite a compliment, coming from the Chosen One. But I'd rather be your friend any day."

This time, Anakin did glance at him, and he could see that Obi-Wan meant it. Very rarely did he let him glimpse any emotion but fatherly disapproval, so it meant that much more when he did. The Jedi Master's expression said that no matter what happened now, he wanted that one simple fact to be set straight.

_I'm probably the only person in the whole galaxy that could ever have turned him against me._

Oblivious to Anakin's thoughts, Obi-Wan went on more lightheartedly, "And my chances of living long enough to grow grey hair are considerably greater when I'm not your archenemy, I should think."

Anakin couldn't resist; that was a _perfect_ trap he'd just walked into.

"Oh, that's not a problem, Master," he said, feigning innocence. "You're already so close."

He laughed at Obi-Wan's appalled silence.

"I'm only sixteen years ahead of _you_, and when you're old and senile, _then_ we'll see who's laughing."

"Yeah, right, remind me then, if you have anything left of a memory by that point. I wouldn't be so—"

"All right, all right. You win," Obi-Wan muttered. "No need to _completely_ destroy whatever self esteem I might have had."

"This is our floor," Anakin realized suddenly, their entire conversation instantly slipping from his mind. Now he just had to open the door before the elevator arrived and flattened them.

But Obi-Wan must have been thinking the same thing, because it snapped open a fraction of a second later.

A little Twi'lek girl and her father happened to be waiting for the elevator, and their jaws dropped simultaneously at the sight of the two dangling Jedi.

"That's Obi-Wan and Ana—" the girl started to say, but she lost her train of thought as she noticed Anakin starting to swing toward them. He could already feel the draft from the oncoming elevator, not to mention the bite of the cord cutting into his hands, and he wasn't going to wait much longer.

"Excuse us, please," he said in mid-somersault.

The little girl's father pushed her defensively behind his back as the two Jedi landed in front of him.

"I'll call security!" he threatened, backing slowly away. "Everyone here has heard all about the Jedi rebellion, and you won't—"  
"Go on and find her, Anakin," Obi-Wan interrupted quietly, noting Anakin's impatiently rigid stare. "I'll fill this fellow in on current events."

With a nod of profound gratitude, Anakin took off down the hall, Obi-Wan's calm, patient voice receding into the distance. It was probably in both of their best interest for Obi-Wan to handle it himself. Convincing frightened civilians that the Jedi could be trusted when all the information they'd been given pointed to the contrary was a very delicate undertaking, and Anakin didn't have the patience. Talking to some jumped-up stranger was the last thing he wanted to be doing right now, when Padmé could be dying…

He was _so close_ now… but of course the hallways had to be light-years long, didn't they? T37, T35, T33… He was looking for T21. This was just as bad as the elevator except that this time, there was no shortcut.

He drew on the Force to allow his legs to carry him even faster, something he'd been doing far too often since this war began.

_Always running, running, running, and even that doesn't guarantee you won't be too late. Like Mom…_

There it was. T21. He stopped short.

Now that he was here, he was afraid to go inside.

Leaning his arm on the wall to support himself, he stood there torn in indecision. It was ridiculous, he knew, but what if the truth he had to face was one he would never be able to accept? It had nearly destroyed him just _thinking_ he was going to lose her. Dealing with her loss for every day of the rest of his life was unimaginable.

He couldn't do it.

Even Lord Vader couldn't.

His gaze lingered on the door's control panel. All he had to do was reach out and press it, and all the answers would be his…

But he couldn't force his hand to move.

When the door shot open unexpectedly, he jumped almost foot in the air. A medical droid, who had apparently just been exiting, looked almost as surprised as he was.

"I'm terribly sorry," it jabbered in its clanging voice. "Were you trying to get in? The control panel is right there next to—"

"Is she alright?"

It blinked electronic eyes at him, apparently confused.

"The patient? She—"

"Anakin?"

That was _her_ voice, coming from inside. He nearly collapsed in relief, a huge grin blossoming on his face without asking his brain whether it should.

He shouldered the droid aside—surely even Obi-Wan wouldn't have cared about being polite at this point—and raced into the room.

She was sitting up, evidently waiting for him, looking tired but very much alive, and beautiful, and perfect, and everything he had hardly dared to hope.

Then he noticed she was holding a baby.

As Anakin started moving over to her bedside, another medical droid approached him and handed over… _another_ baby?

"That's Luke," Padmé told him, laughing at the astonished look on his face. "And this is Leia. They're twins."

_What kind of a name is Luke? And why did she already name them before I got here?_ he wondered, but he knew better than to ask those questions, and honestly he was too happy to mind.

As Anakin stared down into round, blue baby eyes that were familiar in some indefinable way, he finally felt that the galaxy might be possible to put back together. After all, he was made for fixing things. He could see that now, looking back, and doubted that he would ever have been truly happy as a Sith Lord. He didn't know what future the Force held for him, but he was going to try something new and not fight it.

He had a family to think about now.

"Hello, Luke," he said somewhat shyly as the baby blinked up at him, "I'm your father."

Somehow, the words just seemed to fit.


	3. Epilogue

Epilogue

Don't get your hopes up too high; this is just a short chapter to wrap up some more loose ends. Still, I hope you enjoy it.

:ii:

Padmé couldn't have been any happier than she was as she watched Anakin, the Anakin she knew and loved, meeting little Luke and Leia for the first time. She wasn't sure whether it was the Force, or simply the aura of gentle protection he radiated, but Luke seemed to prefer Anakin holding him rather than the droids, or even his mother.

She couldn't picture this same man coldly and methodically slaughtering younglings in the Jedi Temple only hours before.

She still found it hard to believe, though for all intents and purposes, he'd proven it by what he said on Mustafar; by what he _did_. She could still see the look on his face whenever she allowed her eyes to drift closed. He had hardly been human—transformed into a thing of instincts and rage, a cornered predator. She remembered the terrifying, constricting pressure on her throat that no amount of clawing or gasping could ease; the awful lesson of just what it meant to abuse something like the Force, the realization like a slap to her face that she hadn't noticed her own husband falling into darkness… She gave an involuntary shudder, which made Leia squirm, and she gratefully redirected her attention to the baby in her arms.

She looked up when she heard Anakin's footsteps suddenly moving closer. With one more reluctant glance at his son, he handed him back over to the droid and knelt down at Padmé's side, staring up into her eyes with something resembling guilt.

Her heart plummeted. Something was still wrong, after all the horrible things they'd gone through.

"Padmé," he said quietly, his face unusually grave, "I can't stay. I killed the Emperor, and they'll be looking for us—they probably already are. I shouldn't even have come here, but I had to see that you were alright before… before I could do anything else."

"Anakin!" Had she known that before, she would never have let him stay here so long. And he knew that, too, didn't he? He could be so infuriating, the way he took everything into his own hands as if he alone was capable of dealing with the truth, acting like the problem was already solved when he really had no idea what to do. "Anakin, they _must_ know you're here by now. You're not even _trying_ to hide your face! Listen to me: you have to get away before—"

"Look, I know—I was just about to say that. I don't…"

He trailed off suddenly, his eyes hardening, drawing in a determined breath before getting to his feet. Padmé could only stare at him, worried, doubting her ability to read him anymore.

"Obi-Wan," he said by way of explanation, as if the name were a sentence of doom. "He's in trouble." His eyes locked onto hers for one more brief instant, and then he turned away and was gone. His sweeping black cloak was the last to disappear from the doorway.

She looked down at Leia again and managed a smile, despite the onslaught of worry for Anakin that had returned to plague her once again.

_I ought to be used to it by now. We spend more time at opposite ends of the galaxy than we do together, him always wrapped up in one dangerous conflict or another while all of us sit and discuss it in the Senate._

And that was the truth. Though she hoped it wouldn't always be that way, it was simply how things worked when you were secretly married to a Jedi.

_Look out for him, Obi-Wan. Please look out for him. You have to. You're the only one who could even hope to try._

:ii:

Anakin berated himself for being so careless as he raced down the same long hallway in the opposite direction. Obi-Wan had been right, as usual. There was no reason they couldn't have simply kept the clones' armor on and taken their sweet time making their way toward Padmé's room without drawing so much attention.

Obi-Wan would never let him hear the end of this… assuming he was still alive by the time Anakin reached him.

The Force gave him a warning before he turned the last corner, and cautiously, he poked his head around to look.

Obi-Wan was barely visible through the red hail of laser pulses and multiple ranks of clone troopers, his blue blade a nearly solid-looking fan of light. Anakin's found himself automatically estimating there to be about thirty of them; probably just one or two of the nearest patrols and not the entire force that had been sent to track down the loose Jedi. Could the two of them handle that many? Probably.

But would they be able to take them all down before more arrived? Probably not.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. Maybe it was time to swallow his pride and do things Obi-Wan's way.

He glanced around for the nearest elevator, contemplating trying to go back for their disguises, aggravatingly slow as the machines were. Maybe there was still a way to talk them out of this. On second thought, though, why should thirty clones listen to one?

It would never work.

But maybe they would listen to a Sith Lord…

Gathering his composure and drawing his black hood over his head, Anakin rounded the corner and headed for the clones. He took care to walk slowly, letting each footfall sound a little louder than necessary so that they couldn't possibly fail to notice his approach. He drew his face into a mask of suppressed anger that he hardly needed to fake, and tapped the nearest trooper on the shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" Anakin asked, in a voice that would have registered sub-zero on a scale of friendliness. He fixed his stare unblinkingly on the two spots he knew the man's eyes would be behind the helmet, letting a touch of the Force seep into his words.

"We're under orders to locate and destroy all Jedi—" the trooper began, though somewhat uncertainly.

"So am I. And as you don't appear to be having much success, I'm obligated to take over _for _you," Anakin lied, glaring at him until he lowered his blaster rifle. "That's better. Now, tell the others to stand down. There has been another Jedi sighting over at the Temple, where the Emperor's assassins evidently fled. I've already sent another squad over, but I need your group to back them up until I can get there. Do you understand? This one, I'll take care of myself."

The trooper nodded at once, and immediately rushed over to alert the squad leader. After glancing at Anakin, the higher-ranking clonetrooper gave the affirmative and signaled to the rest to cease fire.

All it took was one venom-laced glare from beneath the folds of Anakin's black hood to convince the Commander not to waste any more time. The clones parted to form as aisle for him as Anakin advanced on an exhausted Obi-Wan, lightsaber blazing. Within seconds, the last of them had moved out.

"Well, you certainly took your time about it," the Jedi Master berated him, wiping sweat from his brow.

"You're the one always counseling patience. I thought you'd be _proud _I didn't charge headlong into the fight."

Obi-Wan laughed, and clapped a hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"To tell you the truth, I was rather surprised. But pleasantly so. Now I think it's high time we left. I don't particularly wish to repeat that experience. It gives me the jitters watching you pose as a Sith."

Anakin smiled wryly and nodded.

"But can we please take the stairs this time?"

:ii:

"Mm. Most unexpected this is," Yoda said several hours later, eyeing Anakin with some measure of suspicion. Anakin tried hard not to let his frustration get the better of him. After all, any Jedi would be a fool to take the word of the worst traitor the Order had seen in years. He had expected no less from Master Yoda, and Obi-Wan had warned him several times not to.

"What explanation give you?" the diminutive green Jedi asked, his eyes piercing right through Anakin as they had on the day of his first examination before the Council.

"None, Master. There's no excuse for what I've done."

Yoda tilted his head back to appraise Anakin from a different angle, tapping his gimer stick on the smooth floor of Senator Organa's ship.

"Then why do it?"

Anakin averted his eyes.

"I was… I was worried that I was going to lose Padmé. I know I shouldn't have been, but… I just couldn't let her go if there was a chance I could save her."

He swallowed hard, and patiently awaited the Jedi Master's response. As guilty as this made him feel, he knew she was safe now, and that made the topic bearable.

"Mm. The visions you spoke of with me; premonitions of suffering and death. To these you refer?"

Obi-Wan, standing off to the side, threw him a questioning glance.

But Anakin could only nod, working up the courage for what he knew he had to say next. He could explain that part to Obi-Wan later.

"Yes. They were of Padmé's death. And… Master, she's my wife."

Anakin forced himself to meet Yoda's eyes again. Unexpectedly, he didn't look surprised, only disappointed, and very, very old.

"Foreseen this, I should have. Hide your feelings well you did not, even when first tested for training. A mistake it was, to treat you like any other Padawan. Nevertheless, on you does this blame fall hardest. Disregard for the Jedi teachings, you have in abundance, even after so many years. A fault of Obi-Wan's, is it? Or yours?"

"Mine," he replied at once, albeit reluctantly. He wasn't going to get Obi-Wan in any trouble here, when his friend did so much for him already, against the Jedi Code, and against his penchant for following it to the letter. "No one tried harder than Obi-Wan did to teach me the meaning of being a Jedi. I was the one who refused to listen."

"Mm. Perhaps some wisdom you have gained from this after all. Meditate on this I will, and summon you when Obi-Wan and I have spoken more on the matter."

Taking it as his cue to leave, Anakin bowed gratefully and exited the room.

That hadn't gone too badly. He'd anticipated much worse.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he made his toward the cockpit, the only part of the ship with windows. After much debate, which Anakin had stayed out of for the most part, they'd set a course for the Dagobah system. Though they wouldn't arrive for a long time yet, he had nothing better to do than talk with Senator Organa and the pilot while he waited for what was sure to be a lengthy discussion between the two Jedi Masters.

Anakin wasn't too concerned over what decision they made. Either way, he would find a way to deal with it. Of course he hoped Yoda would allow him to remain a Jedi, but if he didn't, he still had Padmé, Luke, and Leia to return to, and he hadn't lost Obi-Wan as a friend.

After all, there were far worse fates than camping out in a swamp with two cranky Jedi Masters. The most disgusting muck the galaxy had to offer was still a step up from sand.

:ii:

5


End file.
